Currently, a network interface card (NIC), either wired or wireless, uses the PME signal to bring a system from an idle or sleep mode (also referred to herein as S3, S4 or S5 states) back to the active state (also referred to herein as the S0 state). This mechanism is often referred to as Wake-on-LAN or Wake-on-Wireless-LAN. An example using this mechanism is a NIC that wakes the system up when the incoming packet matches a fixed pattern. While this mechanism allows the system to stay in the low power state (S3/S4) and only wakes up when there is a meaningful thing to do, it is also very limited, in terms of types or degrees of wakes.
Thus, a strong need exists for apparatus and methods using intelligent wake mechanisms.
It will be appreciated that for simplicity and clarity of illustration, elements illustrated in the figures have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements are exaggerated relative to other elements for clarity. Further, where considered appropriate, reference numerals have been repeated among the figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements.